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The Master of Science in Informatics program consists of at least 30 credit hours beyond the baccalaureate degree. This includes a minimum of eight required courses (24 credit hours) and six credit hours of thesis or independent study.
Two tracks of study are available to students: Health Information Management (HIM) and Information Resource Management (IRM).
As an academic discipline, informatics involves the study of information and the application of information technology to the acquisition, processing, management and utilization of information.
The past 30 years have seen all aspects of business, and life in general, become increasingly dependent on information technology (IT) and electronic processing of information. IT and information management have become the lifeblood of organizations and effect almost every job. Many employees today are information workers (even if their job title does not officially reflect the role) whose daily job duties require the usage of an array of information and communication technologies as well as information management and processing practices, procedures and methodologies.
The design, procurement, implementation, maintenance and evolution of information-based resources are collectively known as information resource management. The mission of the Department of Informatics is to prepare professionals with a multi-disciplinary education rich in information technology, information management, business and communication - skills the information resource management job market is looking for in today’s graduates.
Student Learning Outcome
Upon graduation from the Master of Science in Informatics program, students will be able to:
Courses offered will either be entirely online or will be a hybrid course. Hybrid courses are online but also require a few live meetings. Students may attend live meetings in Greenville or Spartanburg or by other special arrangement (for students not in the Upstate South Carolina area).
Three core courses are required for both tracks, and four additional courses are needed for each track. Students lacking prerequisite knowledge, as determined by the review panel, may be required to complete one or more additional courses at the undergraduate level.
INFO 622: Advanced Knowledge Inference SystemsINFO 650: Information Resource ManagementINFO 710: System Innovation
INFO 760: IT Intellectual Property ProtectionINFO 761: Business and Competitive IntelligenceINFO 762: Interoperability INFO 763: Advanced IT Project Management
INFO 798: Independent Graduate Study in Informatics (1-6 hours)INFO 799: Thesis Preparation (1-6 hours)INFO 796: Special Topics in Graduate Informatics (1-6 hours)
HIMS 750: Public Health StatisticsHIMS 751: Healthcare IT Vendor ManagementHIMS 752: Compliance in the Healthcare IndustryHIMS 753: Strategic Planning for Healthcare Information Management Systems
Individuals seeking admission to USC Upstate as a degree candidate will be considered for full admission when the USC Upstate Admissions Office receives all admissions materials. However, students are eligible to take up to six hours of program courses pending receipt of all materials. Click here for graduate tuition and fees.
Additionally, each candidate for the Master of Science in Informatics must:
As long as all other admission requirements have been fulfilled, a student may apply for conditional admission by submitting a written request to the Chair of the Department of Informatics, in either of the following cases:
If the student is granted conditional admission, the student must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.25 on the initial 12 hours of USC Upstate graduate coursework to be fully admitted as a masters candidate. If the student fails to achieve this grade point average, the student may not continue in the masters program.
Each candidate will be reviewed by an admissions panel, consisting of faculty from the Department of Informatics.The panel will make recommendations, including possible remedial coursework (additional courses at the undergraduate level to repair any deficiencies in the candidate’s background), to the chair of the Department of Informatics who will make the final decision on admission. The Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences will be able to reverse any admissions decision made by the chair.
Before a student begins the independent study or research portion of the curriculum, each student will be assigned a faculty mentor to serve as the student’s advisor. Some students may be offered graduate student stipends depending on availability of funding.
*A minimum of six credit hours of INFO 798 or INFO 799 is required. Students can take these six hours across multiple offerings of the course. The time demand is determined by the number of credit hours the student is attempting. For example, most students will take either INFO 798 or INFO 799 twice for 3 credit hours each. Others may take one of these courses three times for 2 credit hours each. The INFO 796 course is an optional course that may be substituted for any of the other courses except for INFO 798 and INFO 799. The content and credit hour rating of a INFO 796 offering will be determined by the instructor.
Program Chair Ron Fulbright, Ph.D.
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USC UpstateDepartment of Informatics
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